Water soluble polysaccharides find wide industrial applications as rheology modifiers, film formers and binders. They are widely used as thickeners to control the rheology of various water-based formulations, such as latex paints, drilling muds, cosmetics and building materials. Chemically modified natural polysaccharides, such as cellulose, guar and starch are a large class of commercial water soluble polymers. Specific examples include sodium carboxymethylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose, and carboxymetnyl guar. Water soluble polymers such as these are commercially available from Aqualon Company, Wilmington, Delaware.
Silane coupling agents are known as a useful means to form crosslinks between organic and inorganic materials. Additionally, references which disclose interactions between polymers and silane coupling agents include: U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,438 on latex polymers of vinyl acetate and a silane; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,106,948, 4,474,950, 4,489,117 and 4,604,443 on polyvinyl alcohol and partially hydrolyzed silanes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,072 discloses silane coupling agents to crosslink hydroxylated polymers with alkyl silicates or their hydrolyzed condensates.
Silane coupling agents are commercially available for a variety of crosslinking applications from companies such as Dow and Union Carbide.
A drawback common to the aforementioned prior art is the necessity of using relatively high amounts of silane coupling agents to effect insoluble film formation when they are used in simple admixture with various polymers.